I Trusted You, Both of You
by TVObssessedGirl28
Summary: Cal and Ethan have never been this close. Not since the car crash and the recent Huntington's diagnosis. But, this new closeness between them is about to get tested when a truth comes out.
1. Chapter 1

Since the Huntington's diagnosis things had been good for both of them. They became even closer, closer still since the car crash and they rarely had an argument. Ethan sat in the staffroom on his five-minute break when Charlie stepped in.

"Ah, Ethan," Charlie said. "there's a patient in cubicle 5."

Ethan was about to take the notes when Charlie

stopped him.

"I was hoping Lily could take it." Charlie explained.

"Lily?" Ethan questioned with a frown. "Why Lily?"

Charlie hesitated for a bit hoping Ethan wouldn't notice, but he did.

"Charlie?" Ethan pushed.

"I would rather Lily take this case."

"Why do you want Lily to take the patient? I've had my break. I can take the patient."

"Really, it's best Lily takes this one."

Before Ethan could push Charlie once more to tell

him why he couldn't take the patient, Cal entered. As he stepped into the staffroom, Cal could sense there was a bit of tension between his brother and Charlie.

"Is everything okay?" he asked cautiously.

Both Ethan and Charlie responded at the same time with contradicting answers.

"Right," Cal said. "So what is the problem?"

"There's a patient in cubicle 5." Charlie replied.

"I see, can't Ethan take it?"

"No, he can't."

"Why?"

"Because it's too close to home."

"How?"

"This patient is in the last stages of Huntington's."

For a minute there was silence. Then suddenly something didn't to add up with Ethan. How did Charlie know about Emilie's disease? How did he know Emilie was their mother? Cal glanced towards his brother and noticed the expression on his face.

"Ethan?" Cal asked gently.

Ethan blinked a couple of times before responding.

"How does he know about Emilie?"

He didn't realise he had spoken that quietly until Cal asked him to repeat what he said.

"How does Charlie know about Emilie?" Ethan repeated.

"He treated her when she came in." Cal reminded him. "You saw him, remember?"

Ethan shook his head.

"I don't mean that. I mean why would he know it would be too close to home?"

It was then the penny dropped. Cal felt his stomach tighten into a knot and a sense of nausea swept over him. He had forgotten that Ethan didn't know Charlie already knew that Emilie was their birth mother.


	2. Chapter 2

Ethan noticed Cal's sudden quietness. The quietness was unnerving for Ethan and he knew there was something his brother wasn't telling him.

"Cal, what is it?"

"Cal!" Ethan said a bit more forceful this time.

Cal took a moment before answering.

"Okay, but please don't get mad."

Ethan waited for him to carry on.

"Charlie knows Emilie was our biological mother."

Ethan couldn't speak. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

"Is this true?" Ethan asked Charlie once he found his voice again.

Charlie nodded. He couldn't lie to him any longer. Ethan had the right to know that he'd known all along.

"When did you find out?"

"About a month before you did." Charlie admitted.

It was another blow to Ethan. Not only had his brother lied to him but, he had just found out that someone he trusted knew before he did. He looked between Charlie and Cal, going back and forth without speaking. His eyes saying a thousand words.

"Ethan? Please, say something?" Cal said.

He didn't like the silence that had formed. All he wanted was to hear his brother say something. Anything to disrupt the silence. Still Ethan didn't speak. He continued to stand in silence. When Cal knew Ethan wasn't going to speak he took a step forward to encourage him. However, Ethan pushed past him and went back to work.

Hours had gone by since Ethan had discovered that Charlie had known all along. Cal had tried to approach his brother to explain but, every time he had found an opportunity to talk to him Ethan had ignored him. In fact, he had been ignoring him and Charlie ever since.

Ethan meanwhile, was in cubicles treating a minors patient. He was dressing the wound when he heard the curtain get drawn back. He didn't need to look up to know who it was.

"I don't want to talk to you." Ethan stated.

"I didn't want to lie to you." Charlie responded.

"So why did you?" Ethan asked finishing off the dressing.

"Because it wasn't my place to say. It was Cal's. I tried to get him to tell you but, he wouldn't listen."

"So why didn't he tell me?" Ethan questioned as the two of them walked across the hall.

"You're going to have to ask him that"

With that, Charlie left Ethan to get on with his job. Charlie's right, Ethan thought to himself. He shouldn't be mad at him when it wasn't his fault. It was Cal who Ethan should be mad at and he was. Once Ethan had finished writing up his notes, he went off to find his brother. It didn't take him long to find Cal.

"Excuse me." Ethan announced as he drew back the cubicle's curtains. "But, I need to borrow Dr. Knight for a minute."

"Can't it wait?" Cal asked, still treating his patient.

"No, it can't. " Ethan replied seriously.

"I'll be right back." Cal told his patient.

"What is it?" he asked Ethan.

"Can we talk in the staff room?"

"Whatever it is you need to say, just tell me here."

"I rather think it will be better if we had this conversation in private."

Not wanting to cause an argument with him. Cal agreed and the two of them headed to the staff room.

"Why did you do it?" Ethan asked, barely letting Cal enter the room.

"Do what?"

"Come off it, Cal. Don't start acting like you don't know what I'm talking about. Why did you tell Charlie?"

"I needed to speak to someone."

"You could have talked to me."

"I know."

"So why didn't you?"

"It happened so quickly and came as a shock that I couldn't speak. And Charlie just so happened to be there. He saw me leave and followed me up to the roof."

Ethan could understand his brother's reaction when finding out about the adoption results. What he couldn't understand was why he didn't tell him after talking with Charlie. Didn't Cal think he had the right to know?

"Why still keep a secret? Why lie to me?" Ethan questioned further.

"You have to believe me when I tell that I never meant to lie to you. I just couldn't."

"That's not an excuse. The reason why you didn't tell me was because it was all about you. It's always been about you." Ethan told him truthfully.

"Okay, yeah, maybe it was at first. Maybe I was being selfish. But, only because it was my blood results that were different, not yours."

"So what changed?" Ethan asked, still not believing a word his brother was telling him.

Cal paused before answering. Although it seemed that he didn't care about Ethan, that was far from the truth. He cared about him very much. Ethan, after all was his brother and no matter how much they'd argued, how much they've teased each other, family always come first. And if that bond between them is tested or even threatened in some way, Cal would always put his brother before him. Would always defend and protect him.

"When I discovered that our birth mum had given up two children, the weight that was on my shoulder was lifted. I finally felt relief. I was so happy that we were still brothers. It was because of that, because we were brothers that I didn't tell you."

"But, that's it. I'm your brother. I should have been told."

"I was only trying to protect you, Nibbles."

Ethan scoffed.

"Don't you dare use that as a way to get me to understand why you still lied to me."

"I'm not. Please, Ethan." Cal begged. "It's the truth. I was only trying to protect because you're my brother, my little brother and as a big brother it's my job to protect you."

"Since when being the big brother mattered you?" Ethan told him. "You've done a fine job of that ever since we were little."


	3. Chapter 3

Those words coming out of Ethan's hit Cal hard, almost taking his breath away from him. He stammered for a few seconds before trying to regain his composure.

"Ethan, you know that's not true. I may not have always shown my feelings but, I've always cared about you. I would never do anything to hurt, not intentionally anyway."

"You've got a funny way of showing it." Ethan replied.

,"Look, I know you don't believe me, but it's the truth. Can we please put this incident behind us and get ready? I mean, after all, we do have a party to get to."

"This is far from over." Ethan told him. "But, for now, since this is Charlie's special day we'll leave it until we get home. We need to sort this out."

"Why? I've said I was sorry."

"You think a 'sorry' will fix this?" Ethan chuckled. "You lied to me, Cal! You both did. It's going to take time before I can learn to trust you again."

"Ethan…"

"No, I'm not going to let this one go this time. I'm tired of being the one who always lets you get away with it. It's been like that our entire lives. Well, not this time. This time, we're going to talk about it."

With his answer, Ethan walked out of the staffroom and went to the changing rooms to get ready for tonight's celebrations. Inside the pub, the atmosphere was filled with chatter. Everyone was in conversation, each one of them in admiration and surprise at how long Charlie had been at the hospital for. They could not believe he had given his everything to the ED for the last 30 years and knew that Charlie was the beating heart of the hospital. They couldn't imagine the hospital running without him. No matter what Charlie was always there for anyone and he definitely deserved recognition. Everyone was so engrossed in sharing stories with one another that they didn't hear Charlie enter the room until someone cheered his entrance. Once the man of honour had arrived the party was in full swing. It was while everyone was enjoying the celebrations that the door to the pub opened with quite a bit of force.

"Uh, sorry to disturb the party but," Iain hesitated.

"Iain? What is it?" Charlie asked when he saw the colour from his friend's face was drained.

Iain swallowed nervously before answering.

"I'm afraid there's been a crash involving Connie and Grace."

Literally, as soon as those words came out from Iain's mouth voices stopped and it was deathly silent.

"How's serious is it?" Jacob inquired, pushing past people.

"From the details I've received, it looks pretty bad. There is an air ambulance waiting outside but, they require two doctors to go on site."

Hearing that two doctors were needed both Ethan and Alicia volunteered. Alicia went to grab the medical bag as Ethan was about to follow. Before he reached the door he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back. Ethan turned around only to come face to face with a worried Cal.

"Cal, I need to go. Grace and Connie could have life-threatening injuries." Ethan told him.

"I know, but please be careful. It's dangerous for you too. I'm not going to risk losing two friends and my brother." Cal replied, placing great emphasis on the last three words.

Ethan patted him on the shoulder.

"I'll be okay."

"Just make sure you come back to me."

And with that Cal watched as his little brother turned his back to him and ran off to catch up with Alicia who was already getting into the air ambulance.


End file.
